PREHISTORY

• PERIOD IN WHICH OUR ANCESTORS EXISTED ON EARTH BUT HAD NOT YET INVENTED WRITING

• OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THEM COMES FROM SCATTERED AND SCARCE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

• BECAUSE OF LACK OF WRITTEN EVIDENCE WE CAN ONLY SPECULATE ON WHAT THEY THOUGHT ABOUT, HOW THEY ORGANIZED THEMSELVES, HOW THEY INTER-RELATED WITH EACH OTHER, AND WHY AND HOW THEY BEHAVED THE WAY THEY DID

MOST LIKELY THEORY FOR THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN BEINGS

• 3 MILLION YEARS AGO• SMALL APE-LIKE

CREATURES APPEAR ON SHORES OF SEVERAL EAST AFRICAN LAKES

• BECAUSE OF LARGER BRAIN CAPACITY THEY BECOME DOMINANT SPECIES IN REGION– DEVELOPED COMPLEX

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION– ABILITY TO MAKE AND

USE TOOLS AND WEAPONS

EVOLUTION• NATURAL SELECTION

– BIOLOGICAL PROCESS IN WHICH THE BEST TRAITS IN A SPECIES ARE PASSED ON AND AMPLIFIED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION WHILE NEGATIVE TRAITS GENERALLY ARE NOT

• RESULTED IN DEVELOPMENT CREATURES WHICH WERE STRONGER, SMARTER, AND LESS APE-LIKE IN APPEARANCE

MIGRATION

• MIGRATION TO OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA AND FINALLY OUT OF AFRICA

• SIMULTANEOUS EVOLUTION, POPULATION INCREASE, AND MIGRATION RESULTED IN APPEARANCE OF HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS AROUND 200,000-100,000 BCE

• MARKED BEGINNING OF PALEOLITHIC AGE

VARIATION• Behavior patterns developed based

on environment where humans lived– People in northern climates

developed custom of wearing clothing and use of fire

– People in southern climates were not under similar pressure to wear clothing and were slower to use fire

• Minor biological variations also appeared in response to environmental conditions– People in southern climates

retained high proportion of melanin in their skin pigment• Protects skin from sun• Makes skin darker

PALEOLITHIC LIFESTYLE

• EXCLUSIVELY HUNTERS AND GATHERERS

• NO PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS– LIVED IN TEMPORARY

SHELTERS AND MOVED WHENEVER FOOD SUPPLIES RAN LOW

• LIVED IN BANDS OF APPROX. 30 PEOPLE

• COOPERATED TOGETHER TO OBTAIN FOOD AND FOR DEFENSE

• PRIMITIVE, NOMADIC PEOPLE BY MODERN STANDARDS

PALEOLITHIC ACHIEVEMENTS I• MADE AND USED TOOLS

– VARIETY OF MATERIALS• STONE• WOOD• BONE

– CORRESPONDED TO IDEAS THEY HAD IN THEIR MINDS FIRST

– PRESERVED THEM FOR FUTURE USE

– TAUGHT OTHERS HOW TO MAKE AND USE THEM

– LATER GENERATIONS WOULD IMPROVE ON WHAT THEY HAD BEEN TAUGHT AND MAKE BETTER ONES• RESULTED IN CONTINUAL

IMPROVEMENT IN HUMAN TECHNOLOGY

PALEOLITHIC ACHIEVEMENTS II• SPOKEN LANGUAGE

– CAPACITY TO DESCRIBE THINGS– TO NAME THINGS– SHARE KNOWLEDGE,

EXPERIENCES, AND FEELINGS WITH OTHERS

• RELIGIOUS BELIEFS– BELIEVED FORCES OF NATURE

WERE LIVING THINGS THAT HAD TO BE APPEASED IN ORDER TO PERSUADE THEM TO BEHAVE IN A BENEFICIAL MANNER

– PRACTICE OF BURIAL OF DEAD • INDICATED BELIEF IN

AFTERLIFE

PALEOLITHIC ACHIEVEMENTS III

• ART– PAINTED ON ANY

AVAILABLE SURFACE BUT ONLY ONES DONE IN CAVES HAVE SURVIVED

– MOTIVATED BY MAGIC• DESIRE TO ENSURE

SUCCESSFUL HUNT

BIRTH OF NEOLITHIC AGE• DISCOVERY OF

AGRICULTURE – 8000 BCE– MIDDLE EAST– BARLEY AND RYE– MOST LIKELY

DISCOVERED BY WOMEN

• ANIMAL HUSBANDRY– SHEEP AND GOATS

• TOGETHER, THEY MADE POSSIBLE A MORE RELIABLE SOURCE OF FOOD THAN HUNTING AND GATHERING HAD

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NEOLITHIC AGE I• ESTABLISHMENT OF PERMANENT

SETTLEMENTS• POPULATION GROWTH AND CONCENTRATION

OF PEOPLE• TRADE

– TRADED FOOD SURPLUS TO OTHER REGIONS IN EXCHANGE FOR COMMODITIES FARMERS NEEDED BUT DIDN’T PRODUCE THEMSELVES• SALT• VOLCANIC GLASS• IRON ORE

• INTERNAL TRADE WITHIN NEOLITHIC VILLAGES ALSO DEVELOPED– EXCHANGE OF FOOD FOR ITEMS SUCH AS

POTTERY, TOOLS, ETC.– DIVISION OF LABOR

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NEOLITHIC AGE II

• AWARENESS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

• DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL HIERARCHY AND GOVERNMENT– RULING ELITE EMERGES

AS SOME PEOPLE ACQUIRED MORE LAND THAN OTHERS• GAINED POWER OVER

THOSE WHO DIDN’T OWN AS MUCH AS THEY DID

SPREAD OF AGRICULTURE I

Jarmo

Jericho

Catal Huyuk

Oldest Neolithic settlements found in the Middle East

8000 BCE

SPREAD OF AGRICULTURE II

• AGRICULTURE LATER APPEARED IN OTHER PARTS OF WORLD– EITHER INDEPENDENTLY

OR AS RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO OLDER AGRICULTURAL REGIONS

• NEOLITHIC AGE DID NOT APPEAR EVERYWHERE AT THE SAME TIME– FIRST IN MIDDLE EAST– LATER IN OTHER PARTS

OF WORLD

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY I

• POTTERY CONTAINERS– FOR STORING FOOD

AND WATER

• WHEEL AND SAIL– IMPROVED WATER

AND LAND TRANSPORTATION

• PLOW– MADE

AGRICULTURE EASIER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY II• DISCOVERY OF METAL• FIRST METAL TO BE USE WAS

COPPER– EASILY SHAPED– ENABLED BROKEN TOOLS

AND WEAPONS TO BE RECAST AND RESHAPED

• NEXT METAL WAS BRONZE– ALLOY OF COPPER AND TIN– HARDER AND MORE

DURABLE THAN COPPER– MADE POSSIBLE BETTER

TOOLS AND WEAPONS WITH SHARPER CUTTING EDGES